Eiffel Tower to install anti-terror screen

Plans to build a bullet-proof glass enclosure around the northern and southern base of the Eiffel Tower have been announced by the Paris mayor's office as part of anti-terrorist measures in the capital.

The 2.5m-high structure, which is expected to be erected later this year, would cost €20 million according to French media.

However plans for the screen encasing the 324m-high tower, which receives more than six million visitors a year, are subject to approval from the French environment ministry.

The tower already has a protective metal barrier around its eastern and western base, erected temporarily for the 2016 Euro football championship, however this would be replaced by permanent ornate fencing under the new plans.

The mayor's office says the move is to protect the structure from terrorism, and comes in the wake of several Islamist militant attacks in Paris, including bombings and shootings in November 2015 which left 130 dead

However the proposed measures have been criticised by some French politicians who claim that the "fortress" screen would deter the hordes of tourists who take photographs under the tower without actually visiting the monument.

The wrought iron structure was built in 1889 for the Exposition Universelle and today 80 per cent of its visitors are foreign tourists, coming mainly from the US and Canada, followed by Britain, Spain and Italy